


The White Mage and the Machine

by Ryeaugla



Series: Super Smash Chronicles [6]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening, Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Super Smash Brothers, Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Arguing, Attempted Kidnapping, Bad Accent, Body Image, Competition, Curses, Deadly Premonition, Distrust, Fights, Good Intentions, M/M, Mentor/Protégé, New Character Introduction, Nightmares, One Sided Rivalry, Public Performance, Recurring Dreams, Routine Checkup Gone Wrong, Unexpected Opponent, or maybe not?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-06-08 22:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6878209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryeaugla/pseuds/Ryeaugla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robin has been asked to mentor Reflet's replacement in the tournament order to make sure the tournament continues with little interruption. However, the replacement is not what Robin ever expected it to be, and he doesn't like what he's being asked to do at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Enter the White Mage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Master Hand has invited Robin to his room for an undisclosed reason. What awaits the tactician when he gets there? Is it something good or bad?

The door to Master Hand's room slowly creaked open and the sound of metal clacking upon metal could be heard. The owner of the footsteps winced, wishing that his footsteps weren't as loud as they were, but the fact that he was not wearing the offending noisemakers and they were actually his prosthetic legs meant that it couldn't be helped. Then again, why had he been slinking around like he was trying to sneak into the room in the first place? He had been invited here.

As if to confirm this, a booming voice filled the room, inviting the newcomer in. "Ah, Robin!" Master Hand chortled loudly. "There you are! I was wondering if you were ever going to come. You're not in trouble, so don't get your... loins in a twist, as I believe your people say on your world?"

"...If only I had loins to twist in the first place..." The tactician mumbled as he looked down at his mechanical body that was peeking through the cloak he was wearing. He hadn't worn any undergarments since he first received his Mechon body, as there was no need to do so when the lower half of his body was made of metal and there was no need to hide genitalia that didn't exist anymore. A jolly laugh filled the room, as if oblivious to the fact that Robin was uncomfortable thinking about his reconstructed body.

"Oh, you're such a kidder!" Master Hand replied. "I meant that figuratively, of course. I'm well aware that your body is made of metal. But that's besides the point. Please, step closer. There's no need to be huddled up near the door." Robin couldn't help but give a big sigh as he straightened himself out and made his way further into the room, metal feet continuing to clatter across the floor as he stepped forward. Master Hand had said that the tactician wasn't in trouble, so there was no reason he needed to be nervous. If that was the case, just what had Robin been invited here for in the first place? He had gotten back into the swing of tournament battles quite nicely, and the silver man hadn't acted on his threat from a while back and took over Robin's body in the middle of a tournament match, and therefore Robin was at a complete loss.

"What is the reason you have called me here today, then?" Robin asked as he finished walking, now standing in the middle of the room and staring up at the disembodied hand. As if to answer the question, another pair of footsteps could be heard from behind Master Hand, walking toward the middle of the room from the other side. Robin couldn't help but gasp a little as he took a look at the newcomer. They wore a coat exactly like the one he was wearing, albeit in white and red instead of purple and gold.  Seeing as the cloak he wore was supposed to be adorned with the colors of the Plegian flag, it confused Robin immensely to see this stranger wearing a cloak in white and red, as those weren't the colors of any of the four countries of the continents he lived on and around. The other's hood was also drawn up over their face, so Robin wasn't able to see what they looked like under it. Nevertheless, surely Master Hand would go on to explain everything about this a bit more.

"This is Daraen." Master Hand introduced, waving toward the white and red cloaked tactician as he spoke. "Daraen has agreed to take Reflet's place in the tournament, seeing as she cannot fight anymore due to being pregnant. I was hoping that because you could be Daraen's mentor and teach the tournament ropes. It should only take you about a week to get Daraen up to speed with how things work around here, yes?" Now that it was clear what Master Hand wanted him to do, Robin smiled and walked forward to offer a hand to his new protégé.

"I think a week should be enough to get her into the swing of things." He said, continuing to smile at the other. "Greetings, Ma'am. My name is Robin, in case Master Hand didn't mention my name to you." Instead of accepting his hand, Daraen began to laugh. Just before Robin was about to ask what was so funny, he listened closely to Daraen's voice and gasped. It was rather deep, similar in pitch to his own voice.

_Daraen wasn't a girl at all._

"I knew the hood hid my identity, but I didn't think it hid it so well that it made me look like a girl." The white and red clad tactician chuckled as he pulled down his hood. His hairstyle was just like what Robin's had been prior to being turned into a Mechon, but his hair was black instead of Robin's white locks. He was practically the spitting image of Robin's human appearance, except with a different colored hairstyle, cloak, and slightly lighter colored boots. This made Robin blush slightly and look away in embarrassment.

"O-oh... Sorry..." He said, having half a mind to throw the hood of his cloak up over his head to try to hide his shame. "Master Hand said that you were Reflet's replacement, so I assumed that you would more closely resemble her than you do me." Unabashed, Daraen started chuckling again.

"Don't worry, I won't be replacing you." The white tactician said, knitting his hands behind his back and blushing slightly. "I couldn't possibly replace somebody as unique as you in the tournament. You've got quite a reputation preceding you that I couldn't possibly replace. You're the famous Robin the Cyborg Tactician. I'm just a humble nobody in comparison." Even though Daraen was trying to be reassuring, his words didn't sit well with Robin. Was he really famous just because of his transformation into a half-machine monstrosity? Noticing Robin's discomfort, Master Hand spoke up again to try to relieve some of the tension present.

"Does that mean that you've watched some tournament battles prior to coming here, Daraen?" The disembodied hand asked. "So you have some familiarity with how things work around here already? Perhaps you won't even need a week to get Daraen ready for his very first tournament match if that's really the case, Robin." The black haired tactician turned back toward Master Hand and bowed politely.

"That is correct." He said. "I wanted to know what I was getting into by accepting this invitation, and I watched several matches to try to familiarize myself with how things worked a bit before arriving to this place. I even made sure to set time aside to watch Robin fight, knowing that I was going to be emulating his battle style for the most part." As glad as Robin was that Daraen did some homework and he wouldn't have to start from absolute scratch getting the white clad tactician up to speed, he was also a bit unnerved by the fact that his apprentice was so diligent in learning about everything related to the Smash tournament. _Why does he even need me if he can just watch to find out how everything works?_ He thought to himself. Robin was honestly afraid that, in spite of what Daraen said about not being able to replace him, that the black haired mage WOULD indeed replace him.

The tension in Robin's body quickly filtered out as he thought about the one person at the mansion that would never replace him with Daraen, though. His roommate and recently betrothed, Shulk. He looked down at his left hand and smiled at the beautiful golden band with a ruby attached at the center, held in place on his metal digit thanks to a magnet that had been affixed to the underside. Even if everybody else gathered around Daraen and completely forgot the white haired tactician even existed, Shulk would be the one most likely to stay by Robin's side. They had been through too much together to let something like the appearance of a new tactician who looked exactly like how Robin used to but with a different hair and cloak color drive a rift between them.

"Why don't you start by introducing Daraen to the rest of the Super Smash Brothers, Robin?" Master Hand's voice echoed a second later, breaking the white haired tactician out of his reverie. "Even if he's watched tournament battles before to get introduced to the idea of the event, he doesn't know any of the other competitors. I'm sure they'll love to meet you, Daraen."

"Yes!" The black haired mage cheerfully agreed with the disembodied hand, grasping the other tactician's metal arm enthusiastically. "I really would like to get to know the other Smashers. You'll introduce me to everybody, won't you?" There was a friendly grin on Daraen's face as he tried to discern Robin's response through the purple frame of his goggles. Robin looked a bit disorientated for a second. There was no sign of animosity in the black haired mage's eyes, only excitement. Daraen only thought of Robin as a mentor and a fellow Smasher. It made Robin feel a bit guilty that he had been having such selfish thoughts about the other and had all but dismissed him as a rival.

"...Yeah, let's go." Robin forced a smile to his face as he turned back toward the door he had come in through with Daraen's gloved hand in his grasp, gently pulling the other along behind him. Master Hand waved the two goodbye as they left before sighing and spinning away from the entrance.

"Enough has changed this time already..." He mumbled. "Will things change between Robin and Daraen this time as well?"

* * *

Robin had been leading Daraen around the mansion for a tour of the place, finally getting around to Newcomer Hall where the black haired mage would get a room to call his own.  Seeing as Reflet lived with Chrom due to the fact that the blue haired prince was her husband, Daraen wasn't going to be taking her room. He was probably going to room with one of the other newcomers who were supposed to be arriving next month if they were not going to room together.  Nevertheless, Robin had led Daraen here in hopes of showing him what one of the Newcomer Suites looked like as well as perhaps introduce him to the other newcomers who lived in this hallway. It just so happened that the door wreathed with a purple Falchion and a magenta Monado insignia opened up not long after the two tacticians had appeared, and the other denizen of the room who wasn't Robin walked out. It was none other than the Heir to the Monado, Shulk. Upon spotting Robin standing at the end of the hallway, the blond seer smiled and hurried over to him to speak.

"There you are, Robin!" Shulk exclaimed as he stood in front of the white haired mage. "I was getting a bit worried about you, considering you had disappeared to see what Master Hand wanted over an hour ago. I was about to go talk to Master Hand and ask about what the hold up was." A moment later, magenta eyes wandered over to the other individual standing nearby, who Shulk had completely failed to acknowledge until now. "Oh! My apologies! Who might you be? Are you a friend of Robin's from Ylisse?"

Daraen shook his head. "No, Sir." He replied. "I'm a new competitor at the tournament. I'm filling in for Reflet, the female tactician who was competing under Robin's name." A gloved hand was then extended for the blond male to take. "My name is Daraen. Who might you be, perhaps?" Shulk smiled as he took the hand that had been extended and gave it a hearty shake.

"Ah, welcome to the tournament, Daraen!" The seer beamed. "My name is Shulk. I'm the sole competitor in this competition hailing from a world called Bionis. I'm also a very close friend of Robin's, so you'll probably be seeing a lot of me if you're going to be spending time with him." Daraen's face furrowed slightly for a second, but then he shook his head before giving his own equally sunny smile to the Heir to the Monado.

"Pleasure to meet you, Shulk." The black haired tactician replied. "I hope that we can be friends. You seem like a friendly person, after all." Robin nodded as he looked from Shulk back to Daraen.

"Well, now that you've met my roommate, I hope you don't mind if he comes with us for the rest of the tour of the building, do you?" He asked. The black haired tactician gave an awkward chuckle as he looked back at Shulk before answering.

"Ah, it's no trouble..." He answered. "I don't mind if he comes with us. He was looking for you anyway, so it wouldn't be fair if we kept you away from him for much longer." Even though Daraen had agreed to allow Shulk to join him and Robin on the rest of the tour, the white clad mage made an effort to remain on the opposite side of Robin from Shulk, as if he wanted the half Mechon tactician to deliberately stay between him and the seer. Robin tried to ignore it, but he had internalized the strange attitude. Despite the fact that Daraen said that he wanted to be friends with Shulk, his actions were saying otherwise. Considering how thick Shulk was when it came to people's feelings about him, it was likely that the seer didn't even realize that Daraen was being somewhat abrasive with this deliberate spacing between the two of them. He would have to have a long discussion about Daraen with Shulk once the two of them were alone in their own room again and the black haired mage began to settle down in his new room. Until then, Robin continued the tour without bringing attention to Daraen's actions.

Something about Daraen really bothered Robin and he really wanted to talk to Shulk about it in private.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2364 words. Yes, I know MMZ isn't complete, but I've hit a bit of a snag on that one, so I'm continuing with this story instead for a while until I get my writing muse back for MMZ. Also the end of the school year happened and I was completely engrossed with that up until the other week when school finally finished. Now I can write again freely! Stay tuned for more updates without months in between, mostly because I want to limit myself to about 2000 words per chapter unless there's a big action scene involved! Yay! Anyway, notes:
> 
> 1\. For those not in the know, Robin is the default name for the Awakening Avatar in English, Reflet is the default name in Japanese, and the third tactician introduced here, Daraen, takes the default name for the Avatar in Spanish, Italian, and French (and German in Sm4sh despite it being Robin in Awakening for that language).
> 
> 2\. Unlike the work title and chapter title suggest, Daraen is not actually a White Mage and cannot use healing magic. He's a Tactician just like Robin and Reflet, albeit with a cloak that is reminiscent of White Mages from the Final Fantasy series. Daraen is styled after Robin's white alt from Smash. And yes, his white and red cloak is going to be discussed more in the future.
> 
> 3\. I'm retconning myself slightly here. In the Christmas special, I had written Robin as having [this headdress](http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/xenoblade/images/8/83/Pc086501.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140808234855&format=webp) colored purple in mind, but since then, I decided it would be better if he had [these goggles](http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/xenoblade/images/4/4a/Pc086901.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140808235534&format=webp) but in purple and gold for his headpiece instead (the goggles are obviously see through, unlike how that picture suggests).
> 
> 4\. This story is set some time in January 2016 (after MMZ and the Christmas story, obviously), so Corrin and Bayonetta have been confirmed, but they have not joined the roster of playable characters yet, seeing as they were released on February 3rd, 2016. And speaking of which, I have played Fire Emblem Fates (Birthright, Conquest, and Revelation), and thus the Corrins may have a bigger role in the story in the future, but I have not played any of the Bayonetta games, so she'll probably be relegated to a cameo at best.


	2. A Matter of Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin discusses his concerns about Daraen with Shulk, but Shulk insists that Robin is getting worked up over nothing. Is Robin right to be suspicious of the White Mage, or is he just on edge for no good reason?

"Well, that's about it for the tour of the building." Robin spun back around to face Daraen when they returned to Newcomer Hall. "You should already have your room assignment, right? If not, do you remember how to get back to Master Hand's room?" The black haired tactician gave a friendly smile as he started walking over to the other side of the hallway.

"The former is correct." He replied. "I already have my room assignment, and I'm fairly certain it's here on this side. It's an odd numbered room, after all." The odd numbered rooms were set up along the left side of the hallway coming in from the main hall entranceway, whereas the even numbered rooms were on the right. Shulk and Robin's room was U108, meaning it was on the even side. Shulk, still completely oblivious to Daraen's discomfort and desire to get away as quickly as he could, just waved him off before turning to Robin.

"Well, he's pretty nice." The seer commented once they were alone, as Daraen seemed to have found his room quickly enough and disappeared behind the door without wasting any time. Robin just sighed as he wrapped a mechanical hand around Shulk's and pulled the Homs into the room behind him, slamming the door and locking it once the two of them were inside. Shulk yelped a little with confusion as he was yanked into the room, having no idea what Robin was being so brisk about. The white haired tactician quickly wrapped both of his hands around Shulk's and looked up into his magenta eyes.

"Shulk, did you seriously not see any of his obvious attempts to put me between you and him?" Robin hissed. "I don't know what's up, but it's clear Daraen doesn't like you. Naga only knows why..."

"Wait, he doesn't like me?" Shulk gave the smaller male a skeptical look. "But he said that he hoped that we could be friends!" Robin shook his head and tightened his grip slightly around Shulk's hands, enough so that the seer was starting to wince a bit from discomfort.

"He was saying that to be polite, Shulk. He doesn't have any real interest in being your friend, I can tell."

"Robin, please... I think you're getting worked up over nothing."

"I'm serious! He deliberately hurried around me to get on the opposite side when we first set off on the tour once you had come along with us! You didn't notice that at all?!" By this point, Robin's metal hands were tightly squeezed around Shulk's own, and he was grimacing in pain.

"...Ow, you're hurting me!" The seer hissed, changing the topic of conversation. "Stop squeezing my hands so tightly! Remember, your hands are made of metal!" Upon realizing that he had been causing Shulk pain this whole time, Robin gasped and quickly let go of Homs' hands, knitting his prosthetic fingers together behind his back in embarrassment after doing so.

"I... Maybe there's another reason why Daraen was being like that..." Robin attempted to steer the conversation back onto its initial track as he was unable to suppress a blush from coating his cheeks. It was slightly hidden by the purple glass of the goggles he wore, but it was still easy to see the extra color if one looked closely enough. After a moment of awkward silence spent thinking of other reasons why Daraen might not like Shulk, Robin came up with possible explanation. "Well, perhaps he felt the dark aura of your corruption coming off of you, and he got scared..." Shulk was initially confused and wondered what the tactician was even talking about, but a moment later, realization hit him and he looked away.

"Oh... Right..." The blond seer said quietly. "Grima's magic... You're more than likely correct, it's probably giving off a malevolent aura. If Daraen is an Avatar of Grima like you are, he should be receptive to Grima's magic and probably thinks I'm a Grimleal servant. That would explain his distrust..." Come to think of it, Shulk wondered about the status of the corruption within his body. His last checkup was several months ago, so he had to wonder if the evil magic that had been forced into his body had grown or shrunk at all. Perhaps while Robin was out training Daraen one of these days during the next week, he would stop in at the infirmary to see if anything had changed. Honestly, he was hoping that a lack of exposure to Grima's magic in the past couple months would mean that it was growing weaker and he could finally be cleared to leave the hub again. But there was also a possibility that the dragon's spell was the kind that slowly grew stronger if left unattended, and he would be in trouble if that was the case. Either way, that pretty much determined what Shulk was going to do one of these days while Robin was out with Daraen.

Meanwhile, Robin wanted to cheer Shulk up a little, and so he cleared his throat to get the blond male to look at him again. "You know, if you're so curious, I can always ask Daraen on your behalf. I mean, he's been nice to everybody else when I introduced them to him, so he's probably got a reason for being oddly abrasive to you in particular." Shulk smiled again and pulled Robin in close for a hug.

"If you could do that for me, I'd appreciate it." The seer whispered into Robin's ear as he continued holding onto him. Robin stood there in a daze for a moment before finally smiling himself and gently wrapping his arms around the boy who was hugging him, trying not to hurt Shulk with his mechanically enhanced strength. The two of them stayed like that for a while, just enjoying the warmth of the other's embrace. After a little while, they finally broke away from each other and returned to what they had been doing before Master Hand had called Robin up to meet Daraen.

* * *

" **Elthunder!** " A voice echoed throughout the training arena as a bolt of yellow lightning quickly sailed toward an incoming sandbag, knocking it away into the blast zone. The owner of the voice lighted back down onto solid land as he watched the white target disappear in a flash of gray light. After witnessing that, the black haired mage turned back toward Robin, confidently placing his hands on his hips. "Pretty good gimp, right?" The Mechon mentor strode forward with one metal hand on his elbow and the other on his chin.

"Not bad at all, Daraen. People underestimate the amount of knockback Elthunder has, I've found. I've gotten some pretty sneaky KOs in Sudden Death matches with that spell because people don't seem to expect Elthunder to be a kill move. Nice job picking up on that so quickly. Anyway, let's rest. I'm sure you've gotten hungry from all that jumping around you've been doing all day." As if to verify what Robin was saying as truth, there was a loud growl that echoed through the training arena, causing the black haired tactician to chuckle in embarrassment and blush a little.

"Can't exactly deny being hungry after that noise." He laughed. "In that case, I'll go grab my lunch." Daraen started jogging away a few paces until he noticed that Robin hadn't budged at all. "...You're not going to join me for a bit of lunch?" Robin briskly shook his head.

"Oh no, I don't need any food." He replied before taking out a canister of water that was apparently attached to one of the drones on his back, taking a quick swig from it before putting it back. "All I need is water to continue functioning." Robin remembered the last time he tried eating any kind of real food since being turned into a Mechon. He had gotten terribly ill and ended up throwing it back up, as his new body was unable to process food. Daraen gave Robin a look of concern as he continued speaking.

"Seriously? You don't need any food?" The white clad mage replied. "I thought you were human underneath all those machine parts..." This seemed to strike a chord with Robin, as he looked away from his apprentice while he gave a curt answer to the question.

"I am human." He said sadly. "But I'm also a Mechon. My body was modified when it was rebuilt. I was stabbed in the chest before I died. They had to reconfigure my entire body so I could function again... and that included removing most of my digestive system." Realizing that he had trod upon a sore subject, Daraen awkwardly started walking backward away from Robin before giving a nervous chuckle.

"O-oh... All right then... I guess I'll go grab lunch by myself... Sorry you can't join me." And with that, Daraen hurried away, leaving Robin alone to think about what he had just discussed with the black haired mage. Several months had passed since Robin had first received his mechanical body. Even though it had proved to be useful plenty of times by this point, Robin still wasn't comfortable having a body that wasn't completely organic. He wondered if he could ever truly be comfortable with a Mechon body, considering he already had self-identity issues prior to the reconfiguration that were only magnified after the incident. Robin pulled aside the two sides of his cloak in order to get a better look at what lay underneath. Because of the new frame that had been installed after Robin had badly busted up the old one using the Monado, there was a lot more "skin" showing now. He was well aware that it was all synthetic, though.

While Robin was wallowing in his own self pity, however, panicked footsteps hurried into the training room. Once they had gotten closer, it was enough to break the tactician out of his reverie and caused Robin to spin around to see what was going on. He was more than surprised to find out that it was a Toad that had entered the room, and there was a panicked look on his face.

"Robin!" The tiny mushroom man squeaked in his high pitched voice as he tried to catch his breath. "Thank goodness you're here! I was told you were supposed to be in the training room today, so I'm really glad you're right where I was told you were going to be!" The mechanized tactician gave the Toad a look of concern as he spoke up.

"You look like you just ran a marathon..." He replied as he crouched down to be on eye level with the other. "What's wrong? Did something bad happen? Why were you looking for me in particular?" After taking a moment to inhale deeply, the Toad began explaining what he had run all the way here for.

"Something terrible HAS happened!" He gasped. "It's Shulk! He came to Dr. Mario's office today in order to get some kind of curse he's been afflicted with checked up on, but all of a sudden in the middle of the check-up, his eyes started glowing purple and he began screaming in pain and thrashing about! He's been shouting your name, too! We hoped that you would be able to do something about this, considering it's you that he's been screaming for!" Robin could feel his heart do a flip as he was told what had happened. If his program schema still worked, his eyes would have immediately switched color to green upon hearing that.

"Shulk!" Robin gasped as he felt his drones' wings unfurl. His running speed wasn't the greatest, even if he now had a Speed Frame installed, and he was far more agile in the air. Not wanting to leave the poor Toad behind, Robin reached down and picked the confused mushroom man up before lifting off the ground and zooming through the hallways of the mansion as fast as he could, ignoring the disorientated squealing from the Toad in his hands as he flew. Several Smashers ducked out of the way of Robin's flight path as they heard him approach, not wishing to get run over by a flying Mechon who was trying to get to his destination in a hurry. In record time, Robin had zoomed all the way from the training room to the infirmary before finally lighting down and setting the Toad down. The poor little guy looked like he was going to hurl, but Robin couldn't worry about that right now. Even though there was a door or two muffling some of the sound, a scream could be heard from inside, clearly shouting a couple words between incoherent screams of agony.

"ROBIN!" The voice was easily identifiable as none other than Shulk's, and it made the poor tactician's heart sink hearing it. "ROBIN, HELP ME! GYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!"

"Oh gods, Shulk!" Robin yelled worriedly as he threw open the door of the infirmary to look for the owner of the voice. "Where is he?! Shulk, I'm here!" The infirmary assistants hurriedly redirected the tactician to the room where the screaming was originating from, and Robin gasped as he looked at what was going on.

There was no denying it: Grima's curse was taking hold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2222 words. Well that's a funny number, and I didn't even try. Also look, I can still do cliffhangers. Look at me, actually posting another chapter within a week of the prior one. That's summer for you. Notes:
> 
> 1\. The reason the Newcomer Hall uses the letter U for its door numbers is because it's supposed to represent how the current newcomers debuted in Super Smash Bros. for Wii **U**. (Yes I know they technically debuted in Sm4sh 3DS, but I didn't feel like using D instead.) If the next Smash is really called Super Smash Bros. for NX, then any newcomers to that game would be housed in hall N (or X? Haven't decided).
> 
> 2\. So it's not really well explained in Xenoblade Chronicles, but apparently Homs that have been turned into Mechon only require water in order to continue functioning. Considering both Fiora and Robin were skewered in the chest, it's likely that some of the internal organs in their abdomens were damaged beyond repair. As such, there was probably surgery to remove those parts and the whole digestive system was likely reworked to ensure survival. I mean, look at Mumkhar's Mechon form - you can see through his abdomen into the back of his body! So yeah, there's probably a modified "digestive system" installed in lieu of what was original present, and it only allows processing of water. There's my explanation.
> 
> 3\. I know I said that there was at least a piece of flesh from Robin's human body that still remained around his neck area in the past, but I'm actually not retconning myself here. Instead, this is a reveal that's supposed to come at the end of MMZ that I haven't actually written yet. What happens is that Shulk, when he goes to install Robin's new frame to save his life, finds out that Robin's entire torso has been fitted with synthetic skin. And yes, it's a point of more angst for Robin.


	3. To Cure a Curse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shulk's being afflicted by the curse placed upon him by Grima, calling out for Robin to help him as he suffers. Is there any way for Robin to cure the terrible pain that Shulk is experiencing?

Robin quickly sat down beside the bed that Shulk was laying upon, staring at the poor young man who was suffering atop it. His eyes were forced open, unblinking, and purple flames seemed to be shooting out of them several inches outward. Involuntary tears streamed down Shulk's face as he cried out in agony, and the bedsheets under him were being grasped so tightly that the seer's knuckles had practically turned white. He continued shouting in pain and crying out Robin's name during that short amount of time that was being spent trying to figure out what to do. Eventually, even though Robin didn't really have a plan as to how to stop the terrible pain from the curse, he just acted on instinct due to not being able to withstand Shulk's painful screaming and hopped up onto the bed atop him. He then pulled Shulk up away from the covers and tightly squeezed him in his arms (as much as he could without trying to hurt him, at least). Shulk immediately gasped and tried to speak, apparently capable of feeling Robin's arms around his body.

"W-what's going on?" He sobbed meekly while squirming. "Please, let me go..."

"Shulk, it's me, Robin!" The tactician replied worriedly. "I came as soon as I heard about what happened to you... Please, tell me what's wrong! Everybody's so worried about you!" After realizing that it was indeed Robin who was holding onto him so tightly, Shulk's squirming immediately stopped and he quickly threw his arms around the mage's mechanical body. He tried to hold on as tightly as he could despite his body shaking immensely from the pain.

"Robin!" He shrieked before taking several seconds to cry from the agony he was in. "You have to help me! It hurts so much..." Robin gently started rubbing Shulk's back in hopes that it would give him some kind of comfort during this trying time. His eyes quickly darted over to Dr. Mario, who was sitting nearby and watching this all unfold. Robin nodded to him before speaking.

"Doctor, can you tell me exactly what happened to cause this?" The good doctor furrowed his brow slightly, which was enough to make the mechanical mage shake his head and clarify what he meant. "I-I mean, I'm not blaming you for this. I'm sure you were only trying to help." That seemed to be enough to put Dr. Mario at ease, and so he stood up and walked over closer to Shulk while explained what had happened.

"I was only trying to perform some routine check-up procedures before I got started on looking at the symptoms-a for the actual condition." He answered with a thick Italian accent. "I wanted to see if he was in good health despite it. When I gave him a thermometer to put under his-a tongue to check his-a temperature, that's-a when what you see here started happening. And I'm sure the thermometer didn't set it off, before you ask. That's-a my trusted thermometer, and it's-a been dressed and sterilized before being used." Robin shook his head again.

"Yes, I'm certain your thermometer isn't to blame." He replied. "Other people have used it and didn't get sick after putting it in their mouths, I'm sure."

"T-that and... this condition is magical." Shulk finally chimed in weakly, still clinging tightly to his lover's machine body in spite of tremors continuously affecting him. "I'm sure something like a thermometer couldn't reactivate a magic curse..." Robin made a gentle shushing sound, not wanting the blond seer to overexert himself while he was still suffering. Realizing that Robin had the situation under control and he would be more help to the Homs, Dr. Mario had left the room in order to leave the two of them to themselves.

"Tell me, what do you see?" He finally asked, redirecting his attention back to the seer. Robin gently rubbed a hand across Shulk's back in an attempt to provide some kind of soothing sensation for him to focus on instead of the pain. "Your eyes are glowing because of a vision, right?" It was clear that Shulk's eyes weren't working normally, due to the fact that he hadn't been able to determine that it was Robin who was holding onto him until a voice was heard. There was a brisk movement from Shulk's head, causing the Homs' strawlike hair to brush against Robin's ear as he turned.

"Nothing..." Shulk whimpered. "I-I can't see anything. It's pitch black... Whatever Grima did to me has taken my eyesight..." Robin's heart sank as he pulled away from Shulk a little bit to get a better look at his eyes. He spent a moment trying to focus past the evil flames that were leaping from his eyes to see if Shulk's vision really was really damaged from Grima's spell. However, aside from the glazed, unfocused look in the seer's eyes, they didn't appear to be marred at all. A loud sigh escaped the tactician as he pulled Shulk back into the comforting hug while trying to assure him that it was going to be okay.

"Don't worry." Robin stated with a serious tone. "Your eyes don't actually seem to be damaged from the flames coming out of them. I have a hypothesis as to what's going on, however." A deep sigh left the tactician before he continued. "I have reason to believe that Grima has hijacked your foresight, and she's using it to see the future. I don't know how she's able to control your visions from Ylisse, but..." Robin's voice trailed off. He had a suspicion. This had never happened in any of the prior months that Shulk had been afflicted with this curse, and the fact that this curse flare up only started to occur once a certain somebody had showed up was very fishy...

"...But what?" Shulk asked, tightening his grip around Robin's mechanical body. Had the tactician still possessed a fully organic body, it might have even been tight enough to cause him discomfort. However, the Mechonite frame was too strong to be compressed by mere squeezing from a Homs.

As if on cue, somebody else burst into the room, panting with exhaustion. Robin's eyes narrowed as he shifted his body in order to put himself between Shulk and the new entrant. "You..." He growled. "What have you done to Shulk?!" The panting immediately ceased as Daraen, the one who had entered, took a step back in shock.

"...Me?!" The black haired tactician looked offended at the claim. "Robin, I came here to try to _help_ Shulk! I hurried here as fast as possible after hearing about what was going on! And you're accusing me of being the cause of this?" Robin didn't look convinced, and Shulk wasn't making any effort to try to alleviate the situation between the two tacticians due to the amount of pain he was still in. He was still tightly clasped onto the white haired tactician's metal body, carefully listening into the conversation without saying anything.

"Shulk has been dealing with this curse for several months now, and this is the first time a terrible flare up like this has happened." Robin growled. "It also just happens to be a couple days after a certain black haired tactician first set foot in the building, too. Coincidence? Perhaps, perhaps not..." Daraen shook his head briskly.

"It is a coincidence, I promise! I would never try to hurt Shulk!"

"Really? You looked like you deliberately wanted to get away from him the other day when he joined us. Don't think I didn't notice you hiding behind me to stay away from him. Was it because you didn't want to get too friendly with your intended victim?"

"Robin..." Shulk's weak voice chimed out next to the angry mage. Daraen gave another brisk head shake as he continued to defend himself.

"No, that's not it at all!" The black haired tactician looked like he was about to cry from these hurtful accusations. "I do want to be friends with Shulk, really! I was just feeling a bit shy that day... I heard so many things about him that I was just feeling a bit timid, is all..."

"And you weren't nervous at all around far more famous heroes, such as Mario or Link." Doubt continued to drip from Robin's voice as he let go of Shulk and pushed the seer behind him, as if to free up his hands for an incoming fight. The mechanical mage wasn't going to allow Daraen anywhere near his suffering friend. "The first day I set foot in this place, I was a nervous wreck around all these famous heroes that I had read about in my books. You were the complete opposite, treating them like you guys had been friends for years. All except Shulk."

"But I was nervous around them!" Daraen protested. "I did the best I could to suppress my nervousness around them so that I could make a good first impression. I mean, I'm going to be living with all of these famous heroes as long as I stay here to participate in the tournament, and thus I don't want them thinking that I'm some kind of crazed fan who only accepted the invitation to replace Reflet in the tournament just because I wanted to stay close to fanboy over them in close proximity. That wasn't my reason for coming here, after all!"

"And yet you couldn't suppress your nervousness around Shulk." Robin parried back. "And besides, I know your reason for joining the tournament wasn't to fanboy over famous heroes - it was to kidnap a participant while he was unable to fight back, wasn't it? You activated the latent curse magic in Shulk's body and then came up here to steal away with him, not realizing I was here with him already. Too bad for you; I'm not letting you anywhere near Shulk." Tired of being accused of wrongdoing, Daraen finally decided to act instead of taking any further tongue lashing from a man that was proving incapable of listening to reason right now.

"...Fine. If you're going to get in my way, I'll just have to do this the hard way. I don't have time for this." The black haired tactician pulled a Levin Sword out of his robe before Robin could react and sent a bolt of lightning toward him. The white haired mage shrieked in pain as the electricity coursed through his body. Thanks to the fact that it was made of metal, the energy had a profound effect and immediately knocked him out, causing Robin's unconscious body to fall off of Shulk's bed and onto the floor with a thud. The last thought to go through Robin's mind before his body went into temporary emergency shut down was that the sudden attack all but confirmed Daraen's dubious motives. The lightning being thrown at the mechanical mage immediately made Shulk panic, as he couldn't see and had to rely on his hearing to try to figure out what was going on.

"R-Robin?" He asked fearfully. "Robin, what's going on?! Daraen, tell me you didn't just knock Robin out!" A second later, Shulk was certain that he was in trouble, and so he began pleading to the white clad mage. Due to the fact that he was in so much pain, Shulk's common sense was not working quite up to its usual standard, and he didn't think of screaming so that somebody else who might be nearby like Dr. Mario or a Toad could come in and intercept what was definitely sounding like a kidnapping in progress now. (Why nobody had come into the room upon hearing Daraen throw a bolt of lightning from his Levin Sword at Robin or hearing Robin fall off the bed was a mystery in itself.) "...Please don't hurt me! I-I'm already compromised enough as it is!"

"...Don't worry. This shouldn't hurt a bit, Shulk." Daraen said in a low voice as he slowly made his way closer to the fearful seer. "I'll make sure to relieve your pain..."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2018 words. Time for another cliffhanger! Originally I wrote this chapter and the next one into a single chapter, but upon sleeping on it, I realized it was better off having a cliffhanger at the end of this chapter and go into the next one with a feeling of suspense. Not only that, but it allowed me to flesh both of these chapters out a bit more.
> 
> But yeah, what are Daraen's true motives? Find out next time!
> 
> P.S.: I'm so sorry about the way I wrote Dr. Mario. I'm not used to writing a character with a thick Italian accent, and I didn't want to put "-a" at the end of every word. He won't be saying much for the rest of the story, and I don't think I'll be trying to fit him or his plumber counterpart in as main characters for the rest of the saga, as a result.


	4. A Sudden Betrayal?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daraen knocked Robin out to get to Shulk. When Robin wakes up, instantly he leaps into action to find Shulk, assuming he's been kidnapped by the black haired tactician. What are Daraen's true motives? Can he really be trusted, or is he a spy for Grima?

_Robin's eyes opened slowly due to how groggy and tired he was. For a few seconds, he was only able to process an orange glow from the sky above him, but his vision snapped back into focus quickly enough. He sat up and noticed he was in the middle of a field with fires burning all around him and what looked like a pillar of flames rising out of a nearby city, which Robin knew from memory was none other than Ylisstol. He had experienced this lucid dream at least three other times before, after all. Each time he was brought to this premonition, something changed in the story. Curious as to what had changed this time, Robin propelled himself forward with his arms. Like the last time he had experienced this dream, he had his Mechon body, and the legs had been cut away from his torso in order to prevent him from standing. Instead, he was forced to crawl upon the ground to find where he needed to go._

_As typical of how these dreams went, Robin crawled a short distance out in front of himself before he noticed a familiar figure standing there in silhouette due to the unnatural lighting effect of the fires burning around the field they were in. But this was where the premonition had changed from all of the previous ones. A figure with a white cloak decorated with red details was standing at the far side of the field and a hood drawn up over their head, different than the usual hooded figure who stood there in purple and gold._

_Instead of calling out to the nearer figure in silhouette as he usually did, however, Robin decided to address the hooded figure this time, with anger boiling up in his blood. "Daraen!" He barked. "Why did you do this?!" Rather than getting a straight answer, Robin was greeted to loud laughter. Daraen lifted his head up so Robin could see six evil red glows coming out from underneath the hood in the form of eyes; two belonging to the tactician himself and four more that had sprouted as a result of Grima's corruption._

_"_ **You fool...** _" Daraen hissed slowly, continuing to glare into Robin's soul with those blood red eyes. "_ **Clinging onto false hope that Daraen might still be in here? Well, I've got news for you, failed vessel: there was never anybody called Daraen in the first place!** _" After that, more evil laughter was uttered as the dark shadow that appeared in every other instance of this nightmare completely shrouded the white cloaked tactician. The nearer figure then turned back toward Robin, showing that tears were streaming from his magenta eyes that were also spitting out continuous streams of purple fire. As it was with every other occurrence, the person was none other than Shulk. What was different this time was the fact that audible words were heard coming from his mouth._

_"Robin..." He sobbed. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop this... Just remember that... **I always loved you.** "  Robin couldn't help but gasp loudly and involuntary tears fell down his own face as the dark shroud surrounding Daraen reached out and snatched Shulk up before pulling back into the main cloud. The bright, evil flames that had been visible in Shulk's eyes were even snuffed out by the overwhelming darkness. Even though it was hard to see through the black shroud, Robin could make out Daraen moving closer to Shulk, grabbing his head, and pulling him close. Several seconds later, six more pairs of eyes pierced out through the darkness toward the white haired tactician, and Robin knew that the corruption was complete. The mechanical mage clenched his eyes shut, hoping that he would return to the waking world once more before the brainwashed Heir to the Monado and White Mage joined forces to kill him in this nightmare._

* * *

When Robin opened his eyes again, it was clear that this was a different scene from before, and he was back at the mansion rather than out in a field beyond Ylisstol. He groaned from being disoriented, placing a metal hand atop his head to try to stop his eyes from spinning. A second was taken to try to remember what had last happened before he had fallen asleep and experienced that recurring nightmare, but the moment he remembered, a loud gasp escaped Robin's lips as he sat up quickly. The first thing to register in Robin's brain was that he was currently laying on a cot not unlike the one that Shulk had been resting on before Daraen attacked. Apparently the medical staff had found Robin passed out on the ground and set him on a bed to recover. But wait! There had been two other people here with him before passing out...

Eyes quickly darted around the room in search for anybody nearby, but there was nobody. Robin's heart sank as he realized that neither Shulk nor Daraen were in the room. Assuming that the White Mage had kidnapped the Heir to the Monado, Robin hopped off the bed and hurried out of the ward in a panic. "Shulk!" He shouted as he ran. "Oh gods, he's been kidnapped! Daraen kidnapped him!"

"Robin, calm down." A familiar voice echoed out of the waiting room. Robin's heart gave a start at the sound of the voice, and he quickly turned toward its owner after stopping dead in his tracks. Standing before the mechanized tactician was none other than the blond seer, looking like the picture of good health. He was standing on his own, and the purple flames that had been in his eyes previously were gone. "I'm all right." Shulk reassured his fiancé, walking forward to grab his metal hands. The fact that he was able to walk over to where Robin was standing without any assistance meant that Shulk's eyesight had been restored back to normal, which resulted in another wave of relief washing over the white haired tactician. "Daraen didn't kidnap me - he helped me." Realizing that his panic was unfounded, Robin gave a loud sigh as he threw himself into the blond seer's arms with a smile on his face.

"Oh Shulk..." He sounded like he was about to cry in spite of his happiness. "I was so worried about you when I realized that you were gone. I was convinced that Daraen had knocked me out so that he could kidnap you." After a second, he pulled back to look up into Shulk's eyes. Surprisingly, the magenta hue that they had been previously had faded back quite a bit, and now they were more of an indigo color. Curious, Robin asked about it. "Oh, your eyes... What exactly did Daraen do to help you?"

"I used a Nosferatu tome on his body in order to absorb a lot of the excess dark magic that was present." The black haired tactician's voice rang out as Daraen stepped into view, answering the question in Shulk's stead. Both Shulk and Robin turned to face the white clad mage now reclining against a wall not too far away from them. "There was a lot of it that had built up within Shulk's body. Did you say that it's been months since he got this curse? And not once did you ever think of absorbing some of the dark energy from him?" Robin's eyes fell to his feet in shame. He really hadn't thought about that before, and it had resulted in something terrible happening to the man he loved.

"...I'm sorry for doubting you." The white haired mage apologized in a low voice, avoiding the other's eyes as he finally spoke. "You only knocked me out because I was going to keep getting in your way, and time was probably of the essence to save Shulk." Daraen briskly shook his head.

"I probably would have done the same thing if I were in your shoes." He said, finally getting off the wall he was leaning against. "I understand your suspicions toward me, especially due to the lousy timing I seem to have. And... I have a confession to make, Robin." The mechanized tactician's eyes turned up once more to meet his apprentice's gaze, wondering what the confession was going to consist of. "The real reason why I was trying to keep my distance from Shulk during the tour was because I could feel the powerful dark energy radiating from him. I didn't have a Nosferatu tome on me at the time, else I would have tried to absorb some of the excess energy then and there. However, I also saw how much you seem to care about Shulk, so I assumed that either A) you had this whole situation under control yourself or B) you would attack me if I tried to "randomly" use a tome on him, so that deterred me a bit too."

"...I haven't been able to sense the dark energy coming from Shulk." Robin admitted, knitting a mechanical hand into the back of his hair and rubbing it up and down briskly. "It's probably a side effect of my Mechon body. I wish you had told me sooner, but I'm still thankful that you saved Shulk." Realizing there was no more animosity between the two tacticians, Daraen gave a wide grin and nodded his head briskly.

"I'm glad I was able to help." He said. "If you take some time to use Nosferatu on Shulk every other week or so, you should be able to keep the dark magic in check. The curse is too strong to fully absorb, likely because it's from Grima, but it can be controlled. Anyway, I'm getting hungry again, so I'm going to find my way downstairs to the dining hall. I'm sure you two want to get reacquainted anyway."

"Wait, Daraen." Shulk chimed in just then, stopping Daraen from spinning around right before he was going to walk away. "I just noticed something. What's with that single earring you have attached to your left ear?" Sure enough, there was a bright red earring shaped like an elongated teardrop dangling from the black haired tactician's ear and no matching accessory on his right. A partially gloved hand went up to touch the earring before Daraen responded.

"Oh, this?" He answered, lowering his arm again. "It's a keepsake from my... mother. That and my cloak."

"Speaking of your cloak..." Robin replied. "I would like to know the significance of the colors of it." He stepped forward and spun around a little so that Daraen could see the eye shaped markings on his sleeves. "My cloak is purple and gold because those are the colors of the Plegian flag. My mother was a Grimleal before giving birth to me, and this cloak apparently is given to high ranking tacticians in the Grimleal, which my mother more than likely was before abandoning her loyalties to Grima to save my life. What about you? Why do you have a Grimleal tactician cloak in white and red?" Daraen looked to the floor and shook his head.

"...I wish I knew." He responded dejectedly. "I have no memories of my mother. You're right that it makes no sense for my cloak to be white and red when purple and gold are the colors of the Plegian flag. However, I don't have an answer to your question. It got lost when my memories were erased." Realizing that Daraen's backstory was just like his own was enough for Robin to step off the question. Trying to press for details was a fruitless effort. There was a moment of awkward silence before Daraen piped up again, turning back toward the door. "Well, if that's all, I'm going to go eat, as I intended to before being interrupted." Shulk and Robin waved to the black haired tactician and watched him leave before the seer gently wrapped one hand around the smaller male and gently tugged him toward the exit.

"I think we've had enough excitement for one day." He replied. "We should head back to our room. I'm kind of tired due to the fact that I had a lot of energy drained from my body, and I don't think you rested too soundly due to being knocked out. We should just turn in early tonight. I've already been cleared to leave, and I was just waiting for you to wake back up before I left." Robin nodded in agreement.

"You're right." He said. "I'm tired too, and I'm all for calling it a night." Shulk gave a silent smile as a response and started leading Robin out of the infirmary back toward their room, where they would spend the rest of the night. Robin would continue Daraen's training without any reservations tomorrow, now that he knew the black haired mage could be truly trusted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2117 words. You would think this would be the end of the story, right? Nope! There's still one more major plot thread that needs to be addressed before I wrap the bow around this story, and that's Daraen's first official Super Smash Brothers Tournament match! ~~Besides, 8K words for a story is a bit short.~~ Notes:
> 
> 1\. There's a missing piece of the nightmare sequence that was supposed to come at the end of MMZ, making the one that appears in this chapter the fourth instance of this nightmare. The sequence continues to grow, now with Daraen!Grima replacing Reflet!Grima. This isn't the end of Reflet!Grima, though - far from it. You'll just have to stay tuned to find out where this goes.
> 
> 2\. Seeing as Robin's body mostly comes from parts created on Mechonis now, it's likely that any sort of magic detecting powers he had with his human body are gone thanks to the prosthetics he was fitted with. Magic and technology being at odds with one another, you know? He's notably less magical than he was as a human, but he still has enough magical power to use his tomes as a Mechon. That's the explanation for why Robin didn't realize that Shulk's corruption was as bad as it was.
> 
> 3\. I forgot to mention it prior, but Daraen does have one distinguishing feature that sets him apart from the default white alt Robin, and that's his earring. As Daraen stated in the chapter, he doesn't remember anything about his past prior to losing all his memories, but he assumes that the earring came from his mother just like the cloak. ~~And I'm totally not using Daraen's memory loss as an excuse to not explain the white and red cloak, nope nope nope.~~
> 
> 4\. That whole speech Robin gave about the significance of his cloak is mostly headcanon, by the way. As for why he knows when he supposedly has memory loss too is because it was probably explained to him while the Shepherds were in Plegia dealing with the Grimleal garbage from the end of Awakening. Robin comes from post game, remember? So where in the game does Daraen come from then, you're probably asking? That will be revealed in time.


	5. Ebony and Ivory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A week has finally elapsed, and it's time for Daraen to have his first official Super Smash Brothers Tournament match after being mentored by Robin. Who will he go up against, and how will he fare as the newest Super Smash Brother?

It was finally the end of the week, and Daraen was ready to show what he had learned during the week spent in training with Robin. He stepped forward just behind a curtain as he waited to be introduced. The crowd was already cheering for this exhibition match, and the black haired mage was super nervous as a result. He had never fought in front of more than just a handful of people prior to this, and suddenly he had to deal with a huge crowd. Daraen was not going to let this shake him too badly, however - he had to make a good first impression, after all.

The announcer took a moment to welcome the audiences to the exhibition match today, mentioning that it was the first official battle for a newcomer. " **Challenger approaching!** " The voice boomed. "Here's a new spin on an old competitor! Seeing as female Robin had to leave the tournament for medical reasons, she is being replaced with another Avatar hailing from the continent of Ylisse. Put your hands together for Robin the White Mage!" The crowd roared intensely, causing Daraen to stagger a little in nervousness. He had been told that he would be going under the alias of 'Robin' in sanctioned tournament matches in order to maintain the naming scheme that had already been present before he joined the tournament, being identified from the actual Robin through usage of the title of 'White Mage' as a nod to the Final Fantasy universe, of which another recent newcomer, Cloud Strife, represented and Daraen's cloak happened to resemble. However, he couldn't have expected there to be such an immense amount of applause just for his introduction. Not wanting to upset the crowds, Daraen hurried out from the eaves where he was told to wait until he was called. There was a spotlight set up for where he would stand and receive applause. For several seconds, he stood there in dazed shock. After getting over the initial feeling of vertigo though, the White Mage pulled his Levin Sword out of his robe and raised it into the air, causing the audience to flourish once more in excitement.

"Now, let's see who the White Mage's first official tournament opponent is going to be!" The voice echoed again about half a minute later in order to silence the crowds. A screen was set up behind Daraen and had pictures of all of the other Smashers projected on it. A hand that looked suspiciously like Master Hand was holding onto a P2 button, ready to let it go and decide Daraen's opponent. "3, 2, 1!" The voice echoed before the button flew out of the hand and landed a square before following up with the name of the opponent that had been chosen by random chance.

" _Robin!_ "

"...Wait, what?!" Offstage, the mechanical tactician did a double take upon hearing his name called. He was the last person he expected to be called for this exhibition match, considering he had spent so much time training Daraen already. He was sure that his test would be against another Smasher to prove how well Daraen could react to a battle style he had never seen before. But there was no mishearing the audio or unseeing the P2 button in the center of the box with the white haired mage's face on it. Thankfully, Robin had brought his weapons with him on the off chance that this happened, so he didn't have to forfeit the match. After several seconds of awkward silence due to Robin still recovering from the shock, the voice called out his name again, and the mechanized fighter hurried out into the other spotlight that was set up for him to stand in. The two tacticians exchanged confused glances silently as the announcer's voice commentated over them.

"Well, that's certainly a surprise!" He said. "Looks like Robin the White Mage's first official opponent is none other than Robin the Cyborg Tactician! Their fighting styles should be mostly the same, so there aren't going to be any moveset surprises for the White Mage to deal with. Still, the Cyborg Tactician is more experienced than the White Mage, so that's a major hurdle that our new competitor is going to have to surpass if he hopes of winning his first battle." The announcer had to resort to using the two competitors' titles in his commentary, seeing as Daraen and Robin shared the latter's name out in the tournament scene.

As per usual during these matches, the competitors had to walk over and shake hands as a gesture of good faith and a reminder that these battles existed to cement friendships between worlds. While Daraen had his hand wrapped around Robin's, he decided to quietly talk to his soon-to-be opponent. "Let's see just how well you've taught me about Smash matches, Teacher."

"I look forward to finding out how well you've learned." Robin replied with a confident smile. "It's been a while since I've had to fight somebody with similar abilities to me that wasn't a simulation." Daraen smiled back as he finally broke off the handshake and moved into place for the match to begin. Seeing as it was an introductory match, Master Hand had chosen Battlefield for the stage, as it was simple and possessed all flat surfaces and no gimmicks. However, it was not the Omega version of the stage to provide some platforms for strategic moves.

Both fighters appeared on top of the stage using magical glyphs that were customary for all of the Fire Emblem fighters to appear with as a voice started counting down to the beginning of the battle. Daraen was situated on the lower left platform and Robin on the lower right platform to begin with. " **3! 2! 1! GO!** " The voice cried out as the battle finally began. Both tacticians ran forward to start, but Robin stopped before jumping up off his platform, while Daraen sprang to the top platform and hurried over toward Robin.

Seeing as Robin was firmly standing on the ground and Daraen had to fall in to attack, this left him open for Robin to read his first move, a Down Aerial, and dodge out of the way before trying to counter-attack with his own Forward Tilt. However, Daraen recovered from the end lag of his aerial attack quickly due to landing on the platform and rolled out of the way of Robin's attack. The Cyborg Tactician was quick to roll in the opposite direction once his Forward Tilt attack finished to create some space between the two mages. He was impressed at Daraen's ability to read into his dodging and avoid getting a Bronze Sword to the back. So far, neither fighter had taken any damage, but the match had just begun.

Next, Robin tried a jab combo, ending with his Elwind barrage. Daraen responded by jumping away from the attack before the Elwinds began flying out of the white haired mage's tome, but he misjudged how long it took for the winds to die down and ended up getting smacked from above by a magical gust, which bounced the White Mage into the platform and caused him to spring away a short distance from knockback. Robin frowned upon realizing that he got a direct hit, even if it only dealt minuscule damage on the grand scheme of things. The black haired tactician was proving to be really aggressive - perhaps too aggressive and not defensive enough.

Once the hitstun of Robin's attack wore off, Daraen was still in the air, so he jumped away high above the platforms. Robin followed, jumping up from his initial platform at last to pursue his opponent. He kept closer to the platforms than Daraen did, and was easily able to air dodge and avoid damage from the Neutral Aerial attack that the White Mage attempted to hit with while descending back onto the platform that he had started the battle standing on. The only difference now was that Robin was standing on the platform with him and was within easy reach of an attack. Knowing that was the case, Robin reached out and grabbed Daraen, but only managed to get one pummel in before the barely injured White Mage broke out of the grab magic and slid backward off the platform, falling to the main stage below. He swiped once with his sword as Robin followed down to the main stage, but the Cyborg Tactician was nowhere close to the Bronze Sword.

Trying to put some distance between the two of them again, Daraen jumped backward to the edge of the stage. Instead of pursuing his opponent, Robin used this opportunity to dig into his robe and pull out his Thunder tome, beginning to charge a spell. Daraen wholly expected a Thunder to be launched in his direction, and thus he threw up his shield. Robin responded by shielding himself to cancel out the charge, but he had barely collected any energy during the short period of time that this had all occurred.

Daraen knew he needed to get away from the edge of the stage, as he was cornered if he stayed there. Therefore, he tried to spring into the air again in hopes of leaping over Robin's head. Instead of replying to Daraen's attempt to jump past him, however, the white haired mage began charging the Thunder tome once again. This ended up being a mistake, as he used his shield to stop the charge and leaped up toward Daraen in quick succession as he got close. But the White Mage ended up finally getting his first hit on Robin as a result of this, casting Nosferatu on the Cyborg Tactician. They both floated back down toward the main stage (which they hadn't jumped too high away from in the first place) for a moment as Daraen used the dark magic to inflict damage as well as recover his own health. Once they had landed, Robin finally broke away from the Nosferatu and jumped back to almost mid-stage, but the damage was already done. The two tacticians had essentially swapped damage, what with Daraen fully recovering and Robin taking as much damage as his previous attacks had done to his opponent in one fell swoop. It wasn't much damage, but the advantage was now held (barely) by Daraen.

And thus began a long series of back and forth between the two tacticians; charging Thunders, jab attacks bouncing off each other, shields being thrown up for a split second before being dropped again for another move, grab attacks that only lasted about a second before the victim escaped, and two tacticians bouncing around all over the field in an attempt to hit the other, aerial dodging liberally as they got close to one another. Somehow both of them managed to fully charge their Thunder tomes during the back and forth, and both of the tomes now sparkled in anticipation for the inevitable Thoron that would be unleashed.

Daraen managed to lock Robin into a full jab combo, resulting him getting battered with all of the Elwind hits before being launched straight up into the air. There was not nearly enough damage to send the Cyborg Tactician up close to the Upper Blast Zone, but he still gave a yelp of surprise after getting hit. Much to Robin's confusion, however, he heard the distinct sound of powerful lightning magic being unleashed underneath him while he was still descending from the jab combo. Why had Daraen unleashed his fully charged Thoron when Robin was nowhere close to being hit by it? Even with his Mechon armor, Robin didn't fall quickly enough to land in range of the lightning at the moment that it was unleashed. As much as he wanted to shout 'What in Naga's name are you doing?' at Daraen, the two of them were still in combat, and that could be discussed later.

Following that, there was another series of aerial attacks being launched between the two tacticians, which ended with the durability of Robin's Levin Sword running out and the item being tossed behind him. It just so happened that Daraen was in the process of landing back onto the ground when the Levin Sword flew out of the white haired mage's hand and smacked into his head. The White Mage grunted as he fell unceremoniously onto his back from the unexpected attack, but he was quick to recover with a forward roll to get away from Robin, who used this brief respite to launch a quick taunt to his opponent.

"Weren't expecting that, were you?" He chuckled. "Surely that's not enough to keep you down, though, right?"

"Heh, I'm sturdier than that." Daraen replied as he ascended to his feet once more and jumped back to attack Robin with another Neutral Aerial. And thus the match continued. The two of them were almost neck and neck, proving that their skills were almost on par with one another. It was just a matter of who got a lucky attack in with this kind of equality of skill. Whether Robin had taught Daraen really well, Robin was feeling a bit rusty, or Daraen was naturally talented with Smash matches, it made for a very entertaining match, and the crowds were loving it.

Daraen ended up getting a considerable lead over Robin and managed to send him away toward the Blast Zones a couple of times. It wasn't enough to take off a stock yet, however. The White Mage attempted to intercept his opponent's return to the stage, but he ended up taking an Elwind to the back instead. Upon landing on the ground, Robin started charging Thunder again, having used his own Thoron a little earlier and Daraen barely rolling past Robin to avoid it. While he was charging, Daraen started ambling toward Robin and started winding up to use a Down Smash. Robin rolled out of the way of the attack before giving his opponent an incredulous look, as if to say 'what the heck was that?' to Daraen. Even the confused announcer couldn't help but comment on the strange strategy.

"...Did he just walk up slowly and Down Smash?" The voice rang out. Some of the audience members couldn't help but laugh from the ridiculousness, but Daraen was unabashed. He was determined to win this match.

After knocking Robin toward the Blast Zone again, he attempted to intercept with an Up Aerial, but didn't quite jump high enough. Robin landed back on the stage and Daraen was forced to use an Elwind to return to the stage. Robin tried to intercept with a charged Down Smash as he came back, but misjudged how high Daraen had ascended with the second Elwind attack. He ended up landing about center stage as Robin continued charging the attack that was clearly going to miss in hopes that Daraen would try to come in and strike. However, the White Mage had a completely different plan. His Thoron was fully charged up, and so he launched it at Robin from afar, even making sure to extend the duration of the attack for extra damage. Seeing as Robin had just finished his Down Smash attack, there was no way for him to defend against the oncoming electricity. He took all of it directly and flew away toward the top right corner of the stage. He had accrued enough damage previously that he sailed right into the Blast Zone and disappeared with a pained shout. Robin's first stock had been depleted by Daraen, and the crowd was going wild. The apprentice was actually winning against his former trainer right now!

As Robin respawned back to the stage on a small flying saucer, he frowned with determination. There was no denying it - Daraen was serious about this match. Robin was going to have to pick up his game in order to close the gap between the two of them now. The White Mage managed to get the first bit of damage off on Robin not long after his respawn immunity faded, but that was mitigated quickly by a Nosferatu a couple seconds later, putting the Cyborg Tactician back to full health again. He then went on to catch Daraen in a grab twice in a row, first using the Down Throw in an attempt to follow up with an Up Aerial and send Daraen away toward the Blast Zone. However, the black haired tactician aerial dodged and avoided taking a sword that was sparkling with lightning to his chest. He wasn't able to dodge the second grab, however. Instead of attempting what he tried the first time, Robin used his Back Throw to toss the other toward the right Blast Zone, seeing as he had been facing left. The two of them were on the very rightmost edge of the right platform, so Daraen managed to get quite close to the Blast Zone from that throw. It was not quite enough, however, and so Daraen attempted to jump back to the stage.

More fighting occurred after Daraen returned, this time with Robin being super cautious about how much damage he accrued while he was a stock down from Daraen. The two of them managed hitting each other at the same time with their attacks once, sending Daraen flying toward the left side of the stage and Robin toward the right. Seeing as Daraen was badly damaged by this point, he sailed off the side of the stage from the knockback and had to jump back onto the stage, whereas Robin just landed on the main platform and was able to hurry back to the middle of the battlefield. Another couple of rounds of relatively insignificant fighting occurred, and the Cyborg Tactician yet again got a hold of his opponent and Back Threw him toward the right Blast Zone. It still wasn't quite enough to deplete the White Mage's stock, but it was clear that Daraen was probably one powerful attack away from being knocked into a Blast Zone. It finally came in the form of a well predicted Forward Smash on Robin's part, but it launched Daraen toward the top left corner of the field of play when the two of them were still on the right side of the stage, and thus Daraen was able to use Directional Influence to survive the attack and make his way back to the main stage.

Daraen's first stock finally was used up after Robin caught him in a jab combo on the right side of the field once again and blasted him away into the top right corner of play with a ball of fire from his Arcfire tome. He shouted with pain as he collided with the Blast Zone and disappeared. The crowd went wild yet again upon seeing Daraen lose his stock, but Robin wasn't going to celebrate yet. The Cyborg Tactician was well aware that he had taken far too many hits from Daraen and was starting to fly pretty far when he collided with the other's attacks, and so he had his work cut out for him to catch up and snatch victory from Daraen's clutches. While the black haired tactician respawned, Robin used this time to charge up Thoron in anticipation of zapping Daraen with it for considerable damage and start working to close the gap.

At one point, Robin thought he had a good rhythm going and managed to get several considerable hits, including his previously charged Thoron, against his opponent without taking much damage in return. He got hit by one Forward Smash, but it wasn't nearly enough to knock him into a Blast Zone, let alone barely offstage. However, the white haired mage knew his luck had taken a turn for the worse when he attempted to counter an Arcthunder sent his way with a jab attack. Obviously, that ended badly for Robin, and he flew off toward the top right corner yet again. Not enough to hit the Blast Zone, but still damage that he didn't want to take.

A little while later, when Robin was really starting to feel pressured to stay on the stage, he got blasted away toward the left side of the playing field by Daraen's Forward Smash and very nearly took a Forward Aerial as he was coming back onto the main stage, just barely missing the White Mage's Levin Sword by aerial dodging. However, this was the beginning of a bit of a combo for the black haired tactician. He started by knocking Robin into the air with an Up Smash, and then when falling back down, hit the other again with an Up Tilt before he could land. Robin cursed internally at his stupidity for allowing that to happen and angled his descent toward the right side of the stage once more to put distance between them. Unfortunately, he was so high in the air that Daraen managed to hurry over to the right side and used another Up Tilt to juggle Robin back into the air. Not wanting this "combo" to continue, Robin decided to aerial dodge the incoming Forward Aerial attack and finally returned to the stage as Daraen tried to Down Smash him. Robin rolled out of the way of it and countered with his own Down Smash, which was a direct hit because Daraen was still finishing up his own attack, and thus it was finally the White Mage's turn to be launched airborne.

Robin misjudged the amount of spring to his step and started falling off the stage upon attempting an Up Smash, and so he had to use an Elwind to recover. Daraen tried to predict Robin's recovery and used his own Elwind near the edge of the stage, but the Cyborg Tactician latched onto the edge instead and avoided damage. He then rolled back onstage once the coast was clear and prepared an Up Smash for when Daraen finally came back down, who was unable to defend against the attack due to having used up his Elwind prior and was in free fall. The Up Smash knocked him straight up into the air as a result. Robin tried to follow Daraen up, but the black haired mage bounced away toward the left side of the stage, landing on the leftmost platform and waiting for Robin to land before grabbing him and tossing him over his shoulder with a Back Throw toward the left Blast Zone. It was just barely not enough to knock off Robin's second and last stock, but it did give Daraen time to prepare his next move. Once again the tome was charged up, but Daraen stopped once the glow had changed color from the initial blue to the secondary yellow. By this point, Robin was about to come down and land on the leftmost platform, but Daraen leaped up to intercept, unleashing the attack that he had just prepared.

" **ELTHUNDER!** " He shouted, slinging the yellow lighting bolt toward Robin, who hadn't quite expected it. Upon being hit, Robin flew away toward the top left corner yet again, but this time, he couldn't use enough Directional Influence to save himself from flying into the Blast Zone and ending the match.

" **GAME!** " The announcer called out, signalling the end of the match as the scene quickly changed to the victor's podium. " **The winner is... Robin the White Mage!** "

"A good tactician has nothing to fear!" Daraen called out as he spun around with his Levin Sword in hand while the victory fanfare played behind him. Robin was standing nearby, clapping as most competitors did when they lost a match. The commentators spent several seconds talking about the match that just occurred, still reeling from the fact that a newcomer actually won their very first Smash match. Once they were done, the cameras cut away and everybody was allowed to move. Daraen quickly hurried over to Robin and grabbed his hands, smiling widely.

"I did it!" He cheered. "I actually did it! I won my very first Smash match! Thank you for teaching me all the ropes, Robin! I wouldn't have done it without you!" Seeing Daraen's excitement was enough to make Robin's bitter thoughts go away and a smile found its way to his face.

"It was all you out there." He replied. "I fought as hard as I could, but you just managed to outdo me. You'll do just fine in the tournament, I know it. Reflet's probably going to be happy to know that her replacement can hold his own on the battlefield."

"You were no slouch yourself though." Daraen shook his head briskly. "It's only going to get harder from here, seeing as I'll have to learn about other Smashers' fighting styles, the different fields and their gimmicks... a lot of stuff. But I'll be sure to study hard and make everybody proud! But for now... I think I need to go see the audience again. They probably want to congratulate me for my victory." And with that, the black haired tactician hurried off, leaving Robin backstage to look on from afar. He was sure he had a new friend and friendly rival in Daraen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4194 words. Long chapter by my standards. Hope you enjoyed that battle! I literally decided the outcome of the match by pitting two lv. 9 Robin computers against one another (using the default male Robin and "Daraen" alts to represent each character, of course). I changed up the ending from the match though in order to bring that point I brought up in chapter 2 into play again with the Elthunder gimp (in the original match, Daraen KO'd Robin with an FSmash). I would post the video, but it was too long for the game's Youtube uploader. Notes:
> 
> 1\. Fun fact: I originally intended to give the entire work the name "Ebony and Ivory", but I relegated it to a chapter title instead. Why? I dunno. Either could have worked. I also realized that there's a yin-yang effect going on with Robin and Daraen. When going by hair color, Daraen is ebony and Robin is ivory, but when going by cloak color, Robin is ebony (dark purple is close enough, shush) and Daraen is ivory. Too bad their personalities aren't complete opposites to further cement the parallel.
> 
> 2\. Yes, I know Corrin doesn't use the "magical glyph" entrance animation that the rest of the Fire Emblem characters do, but remember, Corrin has yet to join the tournament at this time. As far as everybody's concerned at this time period, all of the Fire Emblem characters use that entrance animation.
> 
> 3\. I didn't feel like writing the whole match out in excruciating detail, so I truncated a lot of it and only focused on the parts that I thought were the most interesting or poignant, such as the very beginning and the very end of the match. If I wrote the whole thing out in detail, it'd probably double the length of this story. I'm too verbose.
> 
> 4\. Before you ask, yes, in the game match that this was based on, Daraen really did just slowly walk up and Down Smash at that one part. That wasn't me deliberately trying to inject a meme into this story - it really happened.
> 
> 5\. Daraen deliberately used one of female Robin's victory quotes despite being male (and yes, he's a cisgender male, before anybody starts coming up with trans theories and stuff like that for him). He's supposed to be Reflet's replacement in the tournament, so I added that little tidbit as a reminder. That and I like that quote too much to just let it get swept under the rug because Reflet's down and out.


End file.
